The women who almost made it to the top job

While women rise up the ranks at companies thanks to successful pipeline and leadership programs, there are still fewer women than expected nabbing the top job. What’s the real reason behind the dearth of female CEOs?

“Once you get to the top job at the company, in most cases, you are dealing with a male kingdom,” says Dina Dublon, a former CFO at JPMorgan Chase. “For as long as we are the minority group, it is much more about our capacity to adjust to them than their capacity to open up to us.”

“For years I thought it was a pipeline question,” says Julie Daum. She leads efforts to recruit women for corporate boards at US-based consultancy Spencer Stuart.

“But it’s not — I’ve been watching the pipeline for 25 years. There is real bias, and without the ability to shine a light on it and really measure it, I don’t think anything’s going to change.”

These excerpts comes from a recent investigative piece published at the New York Times, which seeks to uncover why, despite increases in every other area, there are still only a handful of female CEOs in corporate America. And while the article looks specifically at the US, there are clear correlations to the state of play in Australia. In 2016, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) report found women accounted for 15.4 per cent of CEOs. Though not as dire as the US’s 5.4 per cent, it’s a topic that continues to spark think pieces and analysis across Australian media.

However rather than crunching numbers, author Susan Chira’s investigation takes a different tack; it directly asks the women who got close, but had to stop at the number two job: “what held you back?”

Another story that resonated with many women is the case of one executive, who was tapped as a possible successor to the chief executive. She left her position when she was outmanoeuvred by male colleagues during a corporate restructure – and said she was unprepared for the 24/7 hardball competitive culture at the very top. “Before heading to the C-suite, I didn’t feel I was handicapped at all,” she says. However looking back, she’s convinced being a woman hurt her.

“Women are prey,” she says. “They can smell it in the water, that women are not going to play the same game. Those men think, ‘If I kick her, she’s not going to kick back, but the men will. So I’ll go after her.’’

“Most women are not socialised to be unapologetically competitive,” writes Chira, herself a former senior executive. Another former exec interviewed, Ellen Kullman, former chief executive at DuPont, agrees.

“We tend to be brought up thinking that life’s fair, that you thrive and deliver, and the rest will take care of itself. It actually does work for most of your career. It doesn’t work for that last couple of steps.”

More than just a caregiver issue

The article is also interesting because it pushes past the oft-repeated tropes about what holds women back from top jobs: family and caregiving commitments, the gender “likability” bias (have you read about it? Research finds women must be seen as warm in order to capitalise on their competence and be seen as confident and influential at work; competent men are seen as confident and influential whether they are warm or not), and the absence of cheerleaders (including men) to help them get to the top.

Instead, the challenge for women who make it to the top is how to enter into the intangible but crucial circle of male camaraderie, writes Chira.

In much the same way we’ve seen other workplace issues such as flexibility, diversity and domestic violence move forward through open dialogue, reading the frank assessments about what kept these women from becoming CEO is an important step. Perhaps seismic change here, as with other cultural problems, requires a critical mass of women in the C-suite – to remake the culture from within.

Hone your HR knowledge and skills in a full-day workshop with global experts, as part of the AHRI National Convention and Exhibition in Sydney (21−23 August). Registration closes 11 August.

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John Fawcett

It’s not enough that the opportunities for women in the middle ranks of management (which make up a far greater percentage than the CEO population) outstrip that for males by a currently unfair amount, to the point that it is now an every day joke – if you’re a guy over the age of 38 your chances of a job vs that for a female are pathetically poor overall, never-mind the “correctness” that pervades our everyday lives where we’re all too scared to be rude enough to object – that includes in government where for example, the conscience vote has… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Terry Murray

In my experience as a male I have found Males like to dominate in the workplace for instance as staff members at the same level and one decides to apply for Supervisor or Manager as it becomes vacant something changes their whole personality just when your thought you know them as a work college. Its almost a case of Heckle and Jeckle and mister hide the monsters comes out. I always maintain look after your troops or it will come back on you because they are the force not the person at the top level.

The women who almost made it to the top job

While women rise up the ranks at companies thanks to successful pipeline and leadership programs, there are still fewer women than expected nabbing the top job. What’s the real reason behind the dearth of female CEOs?

“Once you get to the top job at the company, in most cases, you are dealing with a male kingdom,” says Dina Dublon, a former CFO at JPMorgan Chase. “For as long as we are the minority group, it is much more about our capacity to adjust to them than their capacity to open up to us.”

“For years I thought it was a pipeline question,” says Julie Daum. She leads efforts to recruit women for corporate boards at US-based consultancy Spencer Stuart.

“But it’s not — I’ve been watching the pipeline for 25 years. There is real bias, and without the ability to shine a light on it and really measure it, I don’t think anything’s going to change.”

These excerpts comes from a recent investigative piece published at the New York Times, which seeks to uncover why, despite increases in every other area, there are still only a handful of female CEOs in corporate America. And while the article looks specifically at the US, there are clear correlations to the state of play in Australia. In 2016, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) report found women accounted for 15.4 per cent of CEOs. Though not as dire as the US’s 5.4 per cent, it’s a topic that continues to spark think pieces and analysis across Australian media.

However rather than crunching numbers, author Susan Chira’s investigation takes a different tack; it directly asks the women who got close, but had to stop at the number two job: “what held you back?”

Another story that resonated with many women is the case of one executive, who was tapped as a possible successor to the chief executive. She left her position when she was outmanoeuvred by male colleagues during a corporate restructure – and said she was unprepared for the 24/7 hardball competitive culture at the very top. “Before heading to the C-suite, I didn’t feel I was handicapped at all,” she says. However looking back, she’s convinced being a woman hurt her.

“Women are prey,” she says. “They can smell it in the water, that women are not going to play the same game. Those men think, ‘If I kick her, she’s not going to kick back, but the men will. So I’ll go after her.’’

“Most women are not socialised to be unapologetically competitive,” writes Chira, herself a former senior executive. Another former exec interviewed, Ellen Kullman, former chief executive at DuPont, agrees.

“We tend to be brought up thinking that life’s fair, that you thrive and deliver, and the rest will take care of itself. It actually does work for most of your career. It doesn’t work for that last couple of steps.”

More than just a caregiver issue

The article is also interesting because it pushes past the oft-repeated tropes about what holds women back from top jobs: family and caregiving commitments, the gender “likability” bias (have you read about it? Research finds women must be seen as warm in order to capitalise on their competence and be seen as confident and influential at work; competent men are seen as confident and influential whether they are warm or not), and the absence of cheerleaders (including men) to help them get to the top.

Instead, the challenge for women who make it to the top is how to enter into the intangible but crucial circle of male camaraderie, writes Chira.

In much the same way we’ve seen other workplace issues such as flexibility, diversity and domestic violence move forward through open dialogue, reading the frank assessments about what kept these women from becoming CEO is an important step. Perhaps seismic change here, as with other cultural problems, requires a critical mass of women in the C-suite – to remake the culture from within.

Hone your HR knowledge and skills in a full-day workshop with global experts, as part of the AHRI National Convention and Exhibition in Sydney (21−23 August). Registration closes 11 August.

2

Leave a reply

500

500

Subscribe to receive comments

Notify me of

Guest

John Fawcett

It’s not enough that the opportunities for women in the middle ranks of management (which make up a far greater percentage than the CEO population) outstrip that for males by a currently unfair amount, to the point that it is now an every day joke – if you’re a guy over the age of 38 your chances of a job vs that for a female are pathetically poor overall, never-mind the “correctness” that pervades our everyday lives where we’re all too scared to be rude enough to object – that includes in government where for example, the conscience vote has… Read more »

Reply

1 year ago

Guest

Terry Murray

In my experience as a male I have found Males like to dominate in the workplace for instance as staff members at the same level and one decides to apply for Supervisor or Manager as it becomes vacant something changes their whole personality just when your thought you know them as a work college. Its almost a case of Heckle and Jeckle and mister hide the monsters comes out. I always maintain look after your troops or it will come back on you because they are the force not the person at the top level.